Deconstructing Twitter: Is it Useful?

There’s no need to convince anyone that Twitter is hugely popular these days. From geeks working at NASA to moms and TV hosts, everyone seems to be, and talking about, Twitter. What is so special about Twitter? Have you wondered why Twitter is so popular?

Let’s take a logical approach. For starters, let’s talk about usefulness. It’s hard to say if Twitter is actually useful. In theory, everyone should connect with their close group of friends that share common interests, and maybe add a couple of celebrities. In this case, Twitter would let you stay on top of your real friends activity, easily communicate information and plans. How much does knowing what your friends are doing matter? I guess it depends from person to person. Does this have real value for you? I, personally, couldn’t care less that Joe is out having a picnic.

I would, however, care about an interesting article on my area of interest, a new web app or a linux hack. And to get that kind of information, I don’t necessarily need to add my real life friends – a total stranger could do that. So, you see, theory and real life don’t always match. Twitter is really useful when other people, who share your interests, post information that you want.

Maybe my approach was too cynical, but I do think this is why many people are using Twitter. We were all looking at Twitter the wrong way; It’s not about connecting with people you know, it’s about connecting with people who share your interests.

What would make Twitter even popular than it is now? An engine that could assess your interests and recommend you people based on that. Because people who use Twitter for a purpose, not just passing the time, would find it even more useful. It could become the ‘de facto’ way to share information – without censorship, instantly, to a targeted audience of people who care about what you’re saying.

I could count my real life friends on Twitter with the fingers on one hand. I follow 69 people; Journalists, bloggers, geeks and fellow writers from MakeUseOf. The stream of information is manageable and usually contains real value. It also allows me to get in touch with some of the most influential writers out there with just an ‘@’ sign.

I do admit to following Leo Laporte, the podcasting mogul and a couple of other tech celebrities like Kevin Rose. They rarely post actual useful stuff, but as a journalist (or ‘wanna-be’ as they would say), I fell that it’s important to know what the ‘thought leaders’ are saying.

I’m apparently breaking one of the Twitter Laws. I don’t automatically follow every one who follows me; Some people may be offended, some will most likely remove me after a week. But I’d rather get real information in a manageable size, than having a thousand followers saying absolutely nothing, just clogging up the screen, making the real important information hard to find.

We’re 500 words in, and we successfully established why and how Twitter is useful. There are still a few important questions to be answered, and we’ll discuss the importance of the design, word of mouth promotion and how Twitter exploits one of humans’ basic emotions, in a future article.

I want to hear from you the answer to this article’s main question: Is Twitter useful? What does it do for you?